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Distracted Drivers Are Distracted 79% Of The Time

This just in: Distracted drivers are REALLY distracted. A new study monitoring distracted drivers claims that the top 5% of the most often distracted drivers are distracted 79% of the time during risky driving maneuvers. This is nearly 6 times more often than the average of the rest of the drivers tracked by the study. Of course this also means that the average driver is distracted around 13% of the time.

The study was performed by driver monitoring firm SmartDrive whose analysis comes from 15.1 million “events” collected over the course of 2012 by SmartDrive’s in-vehicle event recorders. The technology collects video, audio, and vehicle data during sudden stops, swerves, collisions, and other “risky driving maneuvers.”

The top cause of distracted driving? You guessed it: The cell phone. Mobile phones caused 27% of all of the distracted driving that was recorded, including hands-free talking, handheld talking, and texting while driving.

The cell phone seems to be irresistible to distracted drivers. The top 5% most distracted drivers talked on their phones 29 times more than other drivers, and texted 19 times more than other drivers. Some of these drivers no doubt contributed to the 1.3 million collisions due to mobile phone usage that year.

Comments

Why don’t you people who do these surveys stop doing surveys on cellphones and start working on a way to create more areas for drivers who have worked all the hours they are allowed to work in a day a safe sleeping. All the truckstops get filled up by 8:00 pm rest areas are full and that about leaves no where for other truckers to park and sleep. Get out of the office and ride for a week with a truck driver.

As with most everything else in the trucking industry only the driver is being focused on. The most distracting thing I have found is the brain dead public in four wheelers and steering wheel holders who drive like them. When did it become “MY” responsibility to move for a MERGING vehicle? Where in the drivers handbook is it taught that an 80, 000 lb. truck can stop on a dime? It is daily that I recieve the “one finger ” salute by some four wheeler that has an expectation that I cater to their driving habits or am forced to take action due to their actions or lack there of. Why do states put the least responsive vehicles in the the most dangerous place on the road in heavy traffic areas(No Trucks Left Lane)? Why must we carry $1,000,000 liability insurance when the minimum requirement in most states for 4 wheelers is $25,000. The general public feels we are a nusiance, cluesless to the fact that without trucks they would have nothing. No concern is shown for the effects of shippers, recievers and four wheelers and state laws on our job. Its ALL our fault. Thats fine.. We are the most powerful, yet uncooperative amongst ourselves, collective people in the world. Turn the keys off for three days, both big and small, and we will see some real results.

I wish drivers would pay more atention to what they are doing when they are doing the same things we have too deal with all day on the road. JUST PUT THE PHONE DOWN!! I would hate to know I was talking to someone that was driving and the next time I call them to say HI! and the voice says I’m sorry but this person is no longer with us. People just don’t get it….LOL

Tumbleweed has the right idea, the bickering within the industry means that the nationwide parking up of bigrigs just won’t happen. At least the French had the nerve to protest in thins manner, but will it ever happen on a big scale in any other western country?

Every single thing a driver does except drive is a distraction. Clutching, shifting, checking your mirrors, watching these nimrods in 4-wheelers…all distractions. Itch your butt, itch your nose, it’s a distraction. The hours of service need to be changed too for the health of the drivers, but first somebody is gonna have to take action for that to happen. Read Tumbleweed’s soliloquy. It about sums it all up.